UTRGV’s Alegría brings Mexican culture through dance with 54th performance

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EDINBURG — The 54th annual Alegría by the UTRGV Ballet Folklórico gives viewers a history of Mexico through the art of dance and music featuring two new pieces this year representing Nuevo León and Yucatán.

Miguel Angel Peña Caballero, director of the UTRGV Ballet Folklórico and of Alegría since 2015, said the performance has a total of six pieces each representing a different region and time period of Mexico.

With narration in Spanish and English about the history behind each piece, Peña said it feels great to give people a history lesson through the visual and musical arts and feels it is a responsibility to portray everything as authentic as they can.

“We are an important source of information here in the Valley … in the cultural dance aspect of Mexico,” he said. “ I think we’re ambassadors of Mexican culture here in the Valley. … It’s important to know where you’re coming from in order to really know where you are headed.

“So I think it’s important for the Mexican population here in the Valley to know about their roots, traditions, where their parents, grandparents or great grandparents came from.”

Staring with a Pre-Hispanic piece showcasing an emotional conquest of the Indigenous people by Spanish conquistadors it then jumps into the Mexican state of Colima, Veracruz featuring the Huasteca Veracruzana and Veracruz Jarocho, Nuevo León and Yucatán.

Nuevo León is a new piece to the show this year featuring a Norteño Conjunto ensemble. The set was staged by a guest artist, Jaime Guerrero, of Monterrey, Mexico who died a few weeks ago.

“We are trying to honor him as best as we can doing this piece,” Peña said.

Ezra Alcocer, a UTRGV junior dance student, was born in Fort Worth but raised in Nuevo León. He said the Nuevo León piece is his favorite since it represents his home state.

“When I was in Mexico, I would dance the same style so I have love for it since it’s from my state.” Alcocer said.”

Performing in Alegría for three years, it was his first as the emperor in the Pre-Hispanic piece. He said it is an honor but it does come with a challenge trying to balance the large headdress.

Alcocer said it is a beautiful feeling to give people a history of Mexico through dance.

“Letting them learn the traditions of Mexico and showing people it’s not just a dance that we’re performing for them but reading the narration and learning why we dance like that,” he said.

The other new set for Alegría this year is about Yucatán. Peña choreographed the piece and spent a few weeks in the summer studying dance in Merida, Yucatán.

Peña said with the two new pieces, everything is started from scratch. From the choreography, the music, the set and costume designs.

“It’s a long long process because we need to work on choreography, we need to work on the set and the costumes,” he said.

Peña said the production has about 80 people involved in it with 40 dancers, 30 musicians, and ten set and costume designers.

With about a decade of putting together Alegría, Peña said it has been a very enriching and long process and he is still learning every year to make the production the best it can be.

Elizabeth Stamatio, a graduate student studying mental health clinical counseling, said this is her fifth time performing in Alegría

“It feels amazing,” Stamatio said. “We love this performance. We work so hard to put this show on stage. And it’s very exciting once we get to view the whole show and see people’s reactions and we’re really like a family, so we love spending time with each other.”

Loving the two new pieces to this year’s performance, she said she has not performed a Nuevo León piece since her first year but is very excited to do the piece.

“Nuevo León has its challenges because you have to really be in tune with your partner,” Stamatio said. “But for Yucatán we have this part where we’re balancing charolas with cups on our heads, so that part is always really scary.”

Being born and raised in Reynosa, she encourages people to come check out the show and for students interested in dance or the production to pursue their art dreams and try out for the show next year.

“Being in a majority Hispanic population here … if people are not able to go back home, they’re able to have a piece of home with them and I feel like we bring that here,” Stamatio said.

Alegría’s 2024 performances are on the following dates:

UTRGV Performing Arts Complex

TSC Performing Arts Center

>> March 9 – 7:30 p.m.

Concert tickets for the public are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and UTRGV students, and $5 for children.

Tickets can be purchased at UTRGV Arts Showpass or at utrgv.edu/arts.

For more information, contact the dance office at (956) 665-2230.